Retro Car magazine and more serious matters.....

[malcolm]

Thanks for the comments (on my Blog and the web forums). I'm proud of the article and pleased to see my cars featured of course!

 

There is much more to this though. We need to see the '7 featured in as many major circulation car magazines as we can, and in a positive way. The TR (and I believe general Triumph) community is enthusiastic, but small and somewhat introspective. There is no point in plugging the TR7/8 within the clubs that already appreciate the cars. We need to reach an audience that doesn't know how good these cars are/can be. And ideally a younger audience. Today 'Retro Car magazine', tomorrow Max Power??

 

Write to the mags and convince them to feature your cars. We need to do this to save the marque, or the approx 2,500 (representing a 10% survival rate!) UK cars will wane even further and before we know it the TR7 will just be a memory....

 

Malcolm.

[Maxwell]

James Stanbury [PRACTICAL CLASSICS?] runs a TR7.

He seldom writes about it, and never acknowledged my letter..

Perhaps it got lost in PC's Administration Dept!

 

Maxwell

Edited April 15, 2006 by Maxwell

[johnwood]

I met his Girlfriend/Wife/Partner last year at a petrol station when she was in his TR7. She took all my details when I told her about my cars but he never made any contact and I only live 10 or so miles away.

 

Most of us contributing to forums have been reading the Classic Car press for a few years (20 years myself).

 

Has the format ever changed? quite frankley the magazines are boring and it would be a breath of fresh air if someone came up with a decent magazine. I recently bought Classic & Sportscar for no particular article and still found the For Sale articles more interesting as I did 20 years ago.

 

Practical Classics is even poorer with articles like "My Allegro has developed a misfire", "Is the Metro a classic". If there is to be an article on a car I for one want to read about development, design, the people behind the project, new photographs and not the stock library ones, and one thing they all miss is what they were like when they were new, what made people buy them. This would be real research. Articles on a certain cars history, previous owners tracked down. Owners clubs and specialists are lucky to get a one page article and thes are the life blood behind the whole movement.

 

Most articles are just rehashes of stuff from previous years with a little revamp, you can hardly call this gripping stuff. The only time these writers ever call an owners club is if they want a car for a photo shoot , they never ask people in the know to check their article.

 

I think after all this time the magazines could improve with content, research (with all the articles over the years relating to TRs they still get information wrong), and well laid out articles. I don't know what circulation or budgets are for these magazines but overall the journalism is poor.

 

Is there a good magazine worth buying? Retro Cars is at least taking a look at the ownership from a different approach.

[rayjones]

To be fair to James Stanbury, he did give his 7 a good write up when he first accquired it, he had a problem with a misfire, which got some column inches, but he commented on what great fun it was to drive, and how surprised he was that it was such a good car, as most people do when they try a decent one for the first time.

He also hinted that he was likely to lose it to his girlfriend, as she'd taken a fancy to it.

 

One can only assume since, that he gets little chance to drive it, and it is so reliable, that he has nothing to write about these days

 

Ray

[mak]

I wrote to top gear after jeremy clarkson smashed up a TR7 on one of his dvd's, I was quite nice about the whole thing, mentioning that maybe in a few years cars from the 70's will be rarer than earlier cars. It took ages, but they did send back a standard letter...

 

Really like retro cars though, they definatly seem to have good taste (alfetta gtv's and tr7's!!) The engine feature they have each issue is a definate favourite, all it needs it pull out and keep sectional drawings on tracing paper!

 

It started out as a joke, but I got in touch with the local cruise scene about going with some friends to some cruises with a few classic cars. I was expecting a hostile reaction, but everyone was really keen on the idea - Maybe max power isn't such a bad idea? All the kids where I live are really interested in my car, the only people it seems to provoke a hostile reaction from tend to be relatively old (jeremy clarkson!!)

 

Great feature though - thanks.

[Guest hodgie]

Well,

 

I am all for boosting the image, although I have to say with my scrooge hat on, rarity does have it's place, and in the case of cars that's usually in the wallet!! Prices tend to rise

 

Thing is, people who read the magazines in the first place like cars, which usually means they know what the car is and a little bit about it. They either like it or don't- usually on looks alone- or in the case of Max power, how fast it is. Problem is chaps, we can't get away from the 7 being British Leyland!!

 

Anyway, I never really worried what other people think, actually kind of what I do like about owning a 7/8. I like being individual, albeit raucously loud and garishly (Java) green!!

[Maxwell]

and garishly (Java) green!!

 

 

There's nothing wrong with Java Green....! Makes a pleasant change from Persian Aqua!

Maxwell

Edited April 16, 2006 by Maxwell

[Guest wedge fan]

Thing is, people who read the magazines in the first place like cars, which usually means they know what the car is and a little bit about it. They either like it or don't- usually on looks alone- or in the case of Max power, how fast it is. Problem is chaps, we can't get away from the 7 being British Leyland!!

 

I agree there seems to be a certain stigma over British Leyland cars. They were never the best build quality but what attracted me to them is soo many of the parts are similar or interchangeable and they are easy to modify to overcome the factory mistakes. Having been through most of the Jaguar/Rover Triumph range over the years they have all had their faults (every single one!) but I have had so much pleasure finding ways to improve the things that casued the faults in the first place.

 

I can't believe how underrated the TR7/8 still is, compared to other British sportscars it's available at giveaway prices, parts are availabe readily and a well-sorted one will give more fun than quite a few much more expensive cars I can think of. I have emailed a few mags to try & get my car featured, no joy yet, but hopefully persistence will pay off in the end.

 

David.

[mak]

Alec,

 

Totally agree with your principles. However I really don't think we should give up just yet...

 

For me the issue really seems to be one of preconcieved ideas. I work in a professional environment with a lot of supposedly very educated people. However they laugh at my car as firstly it is a TR7 and secondly it isn't a convertible, so can't be a proper sports car. I find this shocking as their attitude is based on ignorance. They think that a sports car has to look like an MGB and don't realise that coupes are almost always lighter and more rigid than an equivilant soft-top. Had to bite my tongue when my boss actually stated that I ought to have bought an MGB.. needless to say I am going to make sure he enjoys his first ride in my car.

 

As I said earlier almost all young people (i.e under 30) I know really like the car, mainly because they don't have preconcieved ideas, but also because they like the way it looks and drives.

 

From a max power point of view the car is ideal - it's cheap to buy/insure/maintain, the improvement options are really wide and you could end up converting to a V8. I'm probably being very niave here, but really think if more young people bought cars like tr7's they would also learn a lot.

 

If young people get interested then you don't really need to do much else. All it needs is a bit of publicity(positive!!) in the right places.

Edited April 17, 2006 by mak